A tiny orphaned bear cub in the Kootenays got the gift of life for Christmas. The malnourished bruin had likely been wandering alone for months, scavenging just enough to survive, but with the winter snow, death was fast approaching. For a black bear cub about 10 months old, it should have weighed about 70 pounds.

The bear, nicknamed “Tinsel,” shared food with the chickens for five days.

When it slipped under a chain-link fence and into a chicken coop in the Kootenay town of Midway last week, it weighed about 20 pounds.

Midway resident Miranda Charles found the cub coexisting with her chickens, which seemed to be in a giving mood. For five days the bear shared the chickens’ feed.